The University of Missouri (MU) has launched a new online program to tackle Missouri’s shortage of nurses and nurse educators. The Sinclair School of Nursing designed an accelerated curriculum that enables registered nurses (RNs) to earn both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing online within three to four years.
Judith Fitzgerald Miller, Dean of the Sinclair School of Nursing at MU, told LakeNewsOnline.com, “We need more nurses and the educators to prepare them. Nursing schools around the country lack the faculty to keep up with the demand for degrees as it is, and that demand will only grow for the foreseeable future.”
In Missouri, the average age of registered nurses and nursing faculty hovers around 50. As educators retire, nursing schools must turn away qualified applicants because they lack enough instructors to teach them. MU aims to expand its faculty base and help other nursing programs in the state do the same.
A grant from the Missouri State Board of Nursing and the Missouri Department of Higher Education funds the accelerated RN-MSN program. The grant provides scholarships to full-time and part-time students in their first year. Scholarship recipients must commit to teaching in Missouri nursing programs for three years after graduation.
Heidi Lucas, director of the Missouri Nurses Association, explained to LakeNewsOnline.com, “The shortage of nurses in Missouri is at an all-time high. But to graduate more nurses, our colleges and universities must expand capacity. When programs like this produce nurse educators, nursing programs can hire more instructors. In turn, the state can educate more future nurses.”
MU structured the online RN-MSN curriculum to cut redundancy. Students can opt out of four required undergraduate-level courses and take six graduate-level courses on similar topics instead. Nursing students already enrolled in MU’s online BSN program can apply to MU Graduate Studies during their final undergraduate semester. If admitted, they will complete both the BSN and MSN in three to four years.
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